DISTRICT COURT DEPARTMENT 12

There seems to be no love lost between the candidates for the District Court Department 12 judgeship, which pits political newcomer and Henderson attorney Kurt Harris against six-year District Judge Michelle Leavitt.

The bad blood went public earlier in this election when Andrew Leavitt, Michelle Leavitt's brother, called a local defense attorney a "permanent enemy" for supporting Harris.

Michelle Leavitt, who did not return numerous calls for this article, has said she had nothing to do with the letter in a previous Review-Journal interview.

The judge also recently told the Review-Journal she is confident that she is the right person for the seat. "I take my job seriously. You have to love this job in order to do it. We have a lot of challenges because of the caseloads," she said.

Michelle Leavitt had a retention recommendation by 56 percent of those lawyers who rated her in the Review-Journal's 2008 Judicial Performance Evaluation survey.

She received her law degree from California Western School of Law.

Harris, an attorney from Henderson, said Leavitt's 56 percent retention rating bodes well for him.

Harris said he has served as a clerk to four judges in Nevada and Idaho, been a practicing attorney for more than 13 years and has participated in more than 100 trials.

"I chose to run for this department because I didn't feel the current judge was giving the public its money's worth," Harris said.

He said it is rare that anything starts on time in Department 12 and it's not a productive courtroom.

Harris said he feels an "incredible" amount of time is wasted on hearings or briefings, which are not ordinarily held by other judges.

"The judge doesn't clearly understand the law or the rules, or the application of either one," he said. "You don't have to be a genius to run a courtroom, but you have to have some grasp of what's going on."

Harris said he has raised about $20,000 for his campaign.

He received his law degree from the University of Idaho.

Contact reporter Francis McCabe at fmccabe@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2904.